Saturday, October 17, 2015

The Lexus lane on 95, going North at 7pm on Wednesday, was charging $10.50. As we drove it went down to $7.25.

Did anyone ever imagine that these lanes would be robbing the people blind? I just couldn't believe my eyes when I saw $10.50. They treat the citizens well don't you think? Traffic is so bad that people are willing to pay about $50 a week to get home from work? What do they pay to get to work? Never in my wildest dreams did I think it would come to this.

CAMPAIGNS

In Raquel Regalado's campaign for Mayor, contributions have dropped off. She raised $4,455 in September for a total take of $208,565. Meanwhile, Carlos Gimenez's Pac has amassed $103,055 in September in his PAC (called Stupid People for Gimenez) for a total of $1,599,632. Lobbyist Al Maloof gave $2,000. Manny Medina gave $10,000. Those horrible lobbyists in Tallahassee (Ballard Partners gave $5,000).

The Miami Beach and City of Miami elections are quickly approaching. I would not vote for Philip Levine based on that PAC he and Wolfson concocted to pervert the campaign laws of the city.

COUNTY's FAULTY CALCULATIONS ARE WASTING OUR MONEY
According to a report by NBC 6 this week:

"For the second time this year, Miami-Dade County was forced to adjust payments to a vendor after NBC 6 Investigators revealed county employees failed to properly calculate cost-of-living adjustments under public contracts.

While the companies are different, they are both headed by the same man: Ray Gonzalez, the head of several transportation companies that, with their associates, donate more money to county commissioners' campaigns and political committees than almost any other entity in the county."PALMETTO BAY VICE MAYOR....hmmmMayor Eugene Flinn said:
"I was served this notice at Village Hall by Vice Mayor John Dubois' personal attorney just prior to the start of the State of the Village Address. I certainly will maintain anything in my possession, but I am at a loss to understand what information I could possibly offer John DuBois or his attorney. Can anyone assist me with understanding why the Palmetto Bay Vice Mayor wants to involve me in his personal litigation against Miami-Dade County? This appears to be his ongoing fight, not mine."

Candidate for Florida Senate Andrew Korge takes Climate Change very seriously and believes the Legislature in Tallahassee should too.

The people in this taxi were handicapped but they still marched in the parade. No one left behind.

Don't know them, but they were there.

Former County Commissioner Katy Sorenson, Mayor of Pinecrest Cindy Lerner, Jim Murley - the Mayor's pick for Chief of Resiliency (stupid title) and Daniella Levine Cava, County Commissioner for District 8.

I'm so happy to see such a great turnout at a downtown event. Getting there during rush hour and parking are such burdens but 1000 people cared and made quite a show of it! Congratulations for keeping up the momentum.

As for the tolls...it is sheer audacity and spin. "You only pay for the amount you drive" was MDX's promo when they mega tolled segments of MIami-Dade Highways. Going from Red Road to the 826 which is two exits cost .75 cents. Miami-Dade follows other major municipalities in making the commute harsher for the majority while increasing the status of the wealthy as they speed passed the unwashed masses.

You cannot build your way out of traffic jams. Thus you need to price it, studies show. Market forces determine the pricing to reduce traffic. Why do you think drivers have a 'God Given Right' to have cheap polluting excessive driving anywhere anytime at cheap prices that do not reflect the costs to build roads and other negative externalities? Get out of your suburban thinking-read Suburban Nation.

Yeah yeah we all know about studies. It depends on who is doing them smart ass. Studies show that my readers read stupid books. The world isn't designed just for rich people...religion says that and that trumps studies any day. And Andres Duany? Really? How is Celebration working out?

Consider that the variable cost toll lane is priced by demand, just like Uber & Lyft. Usually the cost of these lanes is lower, but there are times when when saving 10-20 minutes is worth $10 to an ordinary person. Wouldn't anyone pay extra to be on time for a job interview? Not a bad amount to pay to keep one's job after oversleeping and leaving late for work. If all lanes were priced the same, no amount of money would let us recover from a scheduling error or a traffic surprise.

HIGHWAY ROBBERYThe Florida Turnpike has over charged drivers for years to build up the funds to install new Lexus lanes, so after you and I have been paying for the new lanes you will have to pay more to drive on them ( that's like paying to buy the car and then paying the dealer each time you want to drive the car )and the over charging of the regular lanes will not go back down. The Question is where will the state be funneling all of this extra money $$$ to ? There Big Corporate donor friends?

The pricing for exclusivity is blatant. The puny arguments allow the rich to entitlements from resources that had previously been paid for by taxed to all. Now access is only for those who can toss away money.

The example of the person needing to be on time for a job interview...to expect an unemployed person to be happy to toss away their lunch money? Yeah, right.

This is punishment to the middle class and poor for living far from where they work. This is punishment to everyone - because there are enough rich people to even clog up the toll lanes.

And what's with all the damaged polls? Seems like this system is broken and the poor are taking back the lanes by force.

I can not comment about the other expressways, but the middle finger lanes , as I call them on I-95, where created to enable a true commuter bus lane that has a predictable rate of speed. The paying Maserati drivers are just the icing on the cake. At least this was the goal for the section from down town to clover leave interchange.

The thing I'm upset about is that now we have a very dangerous I-95, no emergency lane in the middle, crowded lanes over all, and right side emergency lane inadequate in many places.

This was a cheap cope out to a rigorous public transportation system. Those that visit Europe know what I'm talking about.

is it just me or it is crazy someone would complain about the traffic and parking getting to a global warming demonstration downtown which takes place at the intersection of the people mover, metrorail and bus systems????

which is almost as hypocritical as politicians who claim Uber's surge pricing as discriminatory and predatory while they impose the same business model on our public roads..

I took public transit to the demonstration. Govt Ctr was the perfect place for it. But I figure that the Lexus Lanes help us by hastening the driving of our attorneys who charge clients by the hour. Suppose (purely hypothetical) I am getting sued by Miami Beach Mayor Levine or Palmetto Bay Vice Mayor Dubois for suggesting they did something they appear to have actually done, then I surely want my attorney who is driving the cute Porche to my hearing and charging me $200/hour for transit time to minimize that time by paying the $10.

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Quotes hall of fame - worth another look:

Jonathon Dunlop of Australia about the Miami Airport:"This is the most disorganized shambles of an airport that exists on this earth.''April 01, 2007 Eye on Miami Comment on Post__________________________________On "Colony Collapse Disorder":Anonymous said...I say lets wait till the last tree is going to be cut down, the last bit of oil used, the last lowland coastal areas flooded before we make any rash decisions that might effect the economy.April 21, 2007 Eye on Miami Comment_________________________________On Bee “Colony Collapse Disorder” being blamed on cell phones:Anonymous said...Hmmm. What are bees doing with cell phones, anyhow?April 20, 2007 Eye on Miami Comment_________________________________On South Florida Water Supply:Ron Littlepage said...Unfortunately, we know who would win when it comes to allowing development to run amok and it's not the wildlife.April 20, 2007 Eye on Miami Comment Post_________________________________Lesley Blackner said:In Florida, the sad reality is that government exists to serve the development machine, not the citizenry. That's why it's proper to say that in Florida we have government of the developer, by the developer and for the developer.April 22, 2007 Eye on Miami Post_________________________________On City of Miami and Miami Dade County giving $1,000,000 each to Jorge Perez’s Related Group (The Group's 2005 revenues were $3.25 billion.):"It makes as much sense as me donating half my paycheck to Warren Buffett.”May 6, 2007 Miami Herald Columnist Ana Menendez_________________________________On the FCAT Test:"'Florida is a serial mis-user of test scores.''Bob Schaeffer, director for Massachusetts-based FairTest.May 25, 2007 Miami Herald_________________________________Clifford Schulman (Greenberg Traurig Lobbyist):"This is the first time in 33 years that any one has accused me of fraud." June 28, 2007 Miami HeraldI say: hmm.__________________________________Max Rameau, Homeless Activist:"I respect Ron Book for his work with the Homeless Trust, but the Liberty City community and others have given broad support to this idea. I don't know that a big-time millionaire lobbyist can tell us what is best for Liberty City and the black community.'' July 28, 2007 Miami Herald__________________________________"After years of mismanagement under a board of political appointees and neighborhood activists, Miami-Dade County administrators have proposed a new way to run the troubled empowerment zone program. The plan: Bring in new political appointees and neighborhood activists."November 6, 2007 Miami Herald: Reporter Scott Hiaasen______________________________________"Saying "Greater Everglades" and "Northern Everglades" is not saying Everglades -- other places are deserving of being protected too, but there is only one Everglades. The main thing is to keep the 'Main Thing' the main thing -- which, lately, has not been the main thing." Bob Mooney - on Listserve "Everglades Commons"________________________________________"Does anyone in their right mind believe that Florida could conduct postal balloting without a major screw-up or scandal? Heavens, no! The whole country is keenly aware that our state is a sump hole of incompetence and corruption."Carl Hiaasen - March 16, 2008 Miami Herald_______________________________________On the Charter Review: "Commissioners want us to vote on their own pet changes, ideas the review team explicitly rejected. And, they're throwing their blatantly self-serving ballot questions at us at the same time. What a slap in the face to the charter review team — and to all of us!" Michael Lewis of Miami Today - April 10, 2008______________________________________On the Miami Dade County Commission:''Unfortunately, this is a commission that would build a cyanide factory next to a playground if you hired the right 12 lobbyists,'' Miami Lakes Councilman Michael Pizzi - May 14, 2008______________________________________"The days where we’re just building sprawl forever, those days are over. I think that Republicans, Democrats, everybody recognizes that that’s not a smart way to build communities." President Barack Obama in Fort Meyers - February 10, 2009______________________________________"So."Dick Cheney's response when told that two thirds of Americans did not support the war in Iraq. - Time Magazine 2008______________________________________"It seems like a bad idea can always find a home in the Florida Legislature." - Howard Simon - Executive Director of Florida ACLU - March 24, 2010

______________________________________Complete this sentence: South Florida really needs a..."Regional plan for controlled growth (before it becomes a concrete jungle similar to Houston), and a completely new set of elected officials that make decisions based on what's good for the future of South Florida instead of what's good for their wallets. - Jack McCabe, Real Estate expert who predicted the housing boom's end. - August 29, 2011 Miami Herald